1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sliding roof cover for the roof opening of a motor vehicle roof which is supported to be able to move and be raised on guide rails which run lengthwise on either side of the roof opening, the bearing means of the cover on each guide rail having a front and a rear swiveling means for lifting or lowering the cover on its front edge or its rear edge when opening or closing the cover, and the two swiveling means being coupled to one another.
2. Description of the Related Art
FR-A-2 679 174 (corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,461) discloses one such sliding roof cover with a bearing means which has on each side of the roof opening a front swiveling arm and a rear swiveling arm which are each connected to the cover by a first swiveling means which is pointed towards the vehicle interior and which are connected to the guide means by a second swiveling means which is pointed towards the outside of the vehicle in order to guide the cover forward or backward, the first and the second swiveling means being made such that displacement of the second swiveling means over a short distance out of the position in which the swiveling means is located with the cover closed results in the rear swiveling arm being swiveled and raising the rear section of the cover and thus moving the cover into its partially-opened position.
In the bearing means of FR-A-2 679 174, both the front and the rear swiveling arm are connected via three cams, which are each displaced in an appropriate guide groove a guide rail which is permanently attached on the movable cover. The grooves are made such that the swiveling motion of the front swiveling arms take place independently of the swiveling motion of the rear swiveling arms, in order to raise the rear section of the guide rails and thus the rear section of the cover before the forward section of the cover so that the cover travels into its partially-opened position. The bearing means of this cover thus contains individual components of relatively complex structure.
The object of the invention is to devise a generic sliding roof cover with a bearing means which has a simple structure, which operates reliably, and which can be easily installed on the motor vehicle roof.
The object is achieved in a generic sliding roof cover of the invention by providing front and rear swiveling means where each swiveling means has a swiveling arm coupled to the cover. Each swiveling arm in turn is provided with two guide elements which are spaced apart from one another and which are movably supported on a guideway which is located on the roof-mounted guide rail and are guided in a deflection section of the guideway such that they swivel each swiveling arm for lifting or lowering the either front or rear cover section.
This sliding roof cover has a simple and very reliable structure since each swiveling arm has two guide elements which fit into the same guideway and it is connected to the cover by a single journal. One such bearing means can be used with both a motorized cover and also a cover which is actuated by hand with a handle.
Preferably, the rear guideway is constructed and the second guide element is located on the rear swiveling arm such that a slight displacement of the first guide element in the direction to the rear causes swiveling of the rear swiveling arm, by which the rear cover section is raised and the cover is moved into its partially opened position. The course of the guideway thus determines the swiveling behavior of the swiveling arm. Feasibly, the rear guideway for the rear swiveling arm has a forward deflection section which is curved, for example concavely, and rises preferably in the manner of a parabola. However, other curvatures of the guideway of the deflection section can be provided to establish a special dynamic behavior.
When the radius of curvature of the concavely curved forward deflection section of the rear guideway increases toward the rear, the initial displacement of the rear swiveling arm causes the rear swiveling arm to first clearly be swiveled or raised. As the rear swiveling arm continues to move, the swiveling motion decreases continuously until the swiveling arm has assumed a uniform swiveled setting.
In a particular space-saving and simple configuration, the front guide element is guided in the deflection section of the rear guideway when the rear swiveling arm swivels,.
A particularly preferred embodiment of the sliding roof cover is illustrated in which each swiveling arm on its forward end has a journal which projects toward the vehicle interior and which can be swiveled relative to the cover, and on its back end has a rear guide element which projects towards the outside of the motor vehicle and which fits into a guideway attached to the motor vehicle roof, and a second forward guide element which projects toward the outside of the vehicle and which is located between the journal and the rear guide element and fits into the same guideway as the rear guide element.
When the forward guide element of the rear swiveling arm is located closer to the rear guide element than the coupling element, e.g., a journal for the cover, motion in the deflection section achieves multiplication of the raising motion.
For an arrangement which saves installation space, it is possible for the front guide element to be located underneath a line which connects the journal to the rear guide element. This can result in the rear swiveling arm being essentially horizontal when the cover is in its closed position.
In another preferred embodiment, the front guideway when viewed from its front end, has a deflection section with a first section which is curved roughly concavely and thereafter has a second section which is preferably curved roughly convexly so that the front edge of the cover executes a corresponding motion which first raises it and then lowers it again.
When the second guide element of the front swiveling arm is located closer to the journal than the first guide element and particularly when near the line which connects the journal to the first guide element, the swiveling motion of the swiveling arm follows the path of the guideway in the deflection section with virtually no multiplication of the motion.
In still another embodiment, the sliding roof cover has a drive means connected to the cover. Since the cover is driven directly, the requirement of a comparatively complex linkage of the drive means to one of the swiveling means is obviated.